Smartphones going high-end: Lava Iris Pro 30, Intex Aqua Octa, Karbonn Titanium X

After having garnered the numbers with affordable devices, Indian smartphone makers are slowly testing the upper segments with premium high-spec devices that can take on the bigwigs like Samsung and Apple right where it hurts. Here we look at three devices that push the limits as far as specs go, but still hold on to their affordable tags.
Lava Iris Pro 30
The Iris Pro 30 does not look like anything you have paid for. In fact, it is a stunner with one of the thinnest bodies in any smartphone, let alonea medium range one. It is slim at just 7.5 mm thickness and feels light at just 114 grams. Adding to this lightweight feel is the matte finish soft plastic back that gives it a superior feel.
The Iris Pro 30 has a 720p HD screen from Sharp. But it feels better than some of the other phones with the same resolution thanks to the One Glass Solution that negates any gap between the touch panel and screen. The benchmark ratings put this device between the Samsung Galaxy S2 and the Google Nexus 4, which is quite good considering the price point. Multi-tasking is easy, but then you would expect that with a quad core phone. We did not notice any heating up even while playing games. The phone really shone when I played some HD videos from YouTube even as I had the Robocop game paused in the background.
On the flip side, the phone has just 1.5 GB of internal storage free. With so many high-end specifications, the company could have been a bit more liberal with the space on offer and not let the user buy all the space he needed. Thankfully, the are not many tweaks to the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system and that is good. The 8 MP camera on the phone is much better than what you would find in other devices of this price range. The content adaptive backlight control helps the phone reduce power consumption on the screen by 30% and the 2000 mAh battery easily lasts a full working day.
At Rs15,999, this is a good looking phone that promises decent all round performance. There are no serious sore points with the phone, so if it fits your budget go ahead and buy this.